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COURSE CARE

Enter Sandman - A Nightmare For Hawaii!
February 27, 2015

Enter Sandman - A Nightmare For Hawaii!

By Larry Gilhuly, Northwest Director
June 10, 2008

As the prices for oil continue to seemingly
rise on a daily basis, golf courses all over the Northwest Region
are feeling it with budgetary overruns not only in fuel costs,
but in virtually every area that deals with any aspect of the oil
industry (fertilizer and chemicals) and the transportation of
supplies. While those on the Mainland have seen dramatic price
increases in the past few months, it is nothing compared to what
is happening in Hawaii where electricity and water costs have
added to an increased load on golf course budgets of every size.
However, none of these increased costs is even close to what has
happened to the cost of sand (both bunker and green) since the
end of last year.

With virtually all sand being imported from
China, Australia, the Far East and U.S. Mainland the cost of this
essential supply has risen from $80/ton to more than $160/ton,
and it is expected to rise to nearly $200/ton by year's end! What
can be done when this type of massive increase occurs? Here are
what some have already started on their golf courses or are
contemplating for the future:

Recycling sand onto greens, tees and aprons.
With the cost of sand reaching prices that are prohibitive many
will continue to drag or destroy cores back into the greens to
recycle their sand that has been applied over the years. Light
sand topdressing has not stopped (nor should it), but the high
cost of topdressing following aeration is greatly minimized
using this approach.

Recycling sand from greens to aprons.
For those who still want to fill aeration holes with sand and
have the same type of grass on the greens and aprons (usually
seashore paspalum or older bermudagrass), the cores can be
moved to the aprons in front of the greens. The sand is
separated from the cores with organic debris blown or swept
from these locations. While this method is not as effective as
aeration and sand topdressing, at least the sand from the
greens is being recycled to an area where firmness is still
needed.

Increased deep, solid tine aeration.
Due to the high cost of water, the value of using solid tines
to greater depths than standard putting green aeration units is
being applied for aprons and tees, as well as the fairways. The
simplicity of a deep aeration unit equipped in this manner
makes this one person operation a very good way to generate
greater rooting depth for potentially less water and fertilizer
usage.

The color green in golf is now associated with
those with the most "green" in their budget. The
current cost increases that have hit Hawaii and the rest of the
Northwest Region will hopefully offer a focal point to golfers
that we must begin to maintain golf courses more as playing
surfaces instead of parks. Green is great from a visual
standpoint; however it is not great when you are trying to keep
within a budget at a time when soaring costs are giving you less
"green" to work with.